About our Sessions

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have been working on the West Shore Lake Pontchartrain Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction Project on the east bank of the Mississippi River in southeastern Louisiana. The $760 million project is to provide a 100-year level flood risk reduction system for more than 60,000 people in the three-parish area with levees, floodwalls, and pump stations. The WSLP 106 segment of the Project is now underway, building a pair of Temporary Retaining Structure (TRS) with interlocking 36” diameter pipe piles. The walls are constructed under an interstate highway’s concrete girders in marshy land where overhead clearance is less than 10’. The piling contractor is installing pipe piles with Giken’s silent and practically vibration-free press-in piling machine that can work under low headroom. It can press in pipe piles with an overhead clearance of 8’-8”. In addition, since the machine is equipped with an integrated small hoisting device that can pick up and pitch short pipe pile sections, no separate pile lifting equipment is required. The use of a vibratory piling method in low-headroom sections was prohibited as it would negatively affect the existing elevated roadway foundations. 204 pipe piles are being pressed in; 54 of which are spliced five times each for the low headroom sections. The total length of piles is between 55 to 57 feet.